


The Price of Tuition and Textbooks Is One Night at a Gangland Gala

by LazyWriterGirl



Series: Femslash February 2017 - I Write Best When I'm Writing Gay [6]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Elements of Gangland!AU, F/F, Fake-Dating!AU, Femslash February 2017, Korra Has a Crush, Light-Hearted, Pre-Femslash, Pre-Relationship, Prompt Fill, sort of fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 21:22:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9845402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LazyWriterGirl/pseuds/LazyWriterGirl
Summary: “Oh, come on, Korra, I know you heard me the first time.”“Yeah, but…Asami, your father would kill me.”“No, he wouldn’t. He’s not trying to start a war with the North and South poles…and besides, he likes you!”Or, if Korra pretends to be Asami Sato’s maybe-girlfriend for one gala, all her financial issues will be solved. Why does her entire life feel like the setup for a poorly written romantic comedy?Femslash February Prompt 6/12 - Character A must complete her studies at the university, but can’t find a job that works with her crazy class schedule.  Character B promises her incredible riches if Character A does one single thing for Character B.





	

Sometimes Korra felt like her life was a bad romantic comedy, only without the romance—unless you could count her embarrassingly obvious crush on her roommate—and with the comedy solely visible to the eyes of the universe and people who _weren’t_ her.

Imagine, the daughter and niece of two world leaders, jobless and scouring the streets of Republic City for any new she could find about a potential job! It was bordering on ridiculous. And the fact that she had a dog and a roommate-crush who also served as her best and only friend, well…her life honestly was starting to look like the setup for a rom-com, and Korra wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

It was only after having to walk out of her fourth interview of the week that Korra thought that maybe she’d finally managed to bite off more than she could chew. Logically speaking, she really shouldn’t have been adding anything to her plate at this point anyway. She was in her third year of study already, and, as her guidance counsellor loved to remind her things were only about to “get a hell of a lot worse, kid!”.   

Anyway, between two majors, two sports teams—one of which had her holding the captaincy—and a dog, really, Korra didn’t have _time_ for a job. But she needed one.

 _Spirits_ , how badly she needed one.

It wasn’t that her parents weren’t willing to help her, but she just…couldn’t keep on asking them for money. Her textbooks alone had all spiked in price due to the nature of her courses, and she felt guilty sending home nothing but receipts and expecting that her parents would cover the costs for her. They had the money, yes, but they needed that for other things.

Business things.

And Korra loved her parents too much to want to put any extra pressure on them. It was too much. Not to mention, with her uncle planning an expansion and her father as sick as he was…

“Hey,” called her roommate’s voice as Korra’s foot crossed over the threshold into their apartment, “how’d your interview go?”

“Ugh, it sucked,” she called back, pausing to add a quiet, “hey, Naga” as she stooped to scratch behind her dog’s floppy white ears before closing the door behind her. “You wouldn’t _believe_ how stupid the schedule was! Like, he wanted me to work Monday through Thursday as well as Saturday. I have classes and practices and…” Korra looked down at her roommate, who was sprawled out on the couch with a textbook in her hands. A familiar textbook. One that Korra herself had been eyeing the other day, but hadn’t had the money for. “What are you holding?”

“This?”

“Asami, don’t tell me you—

“Before you get angry, hear me out!” said Asami, rolling off the couch. She flashed Korra a cheeky grin before practically thrusting the book—which must have weighed at least five pounds—straight at Korra’s chest. “I’m not doing you any favours just because we’re best friends and I love you, roomie.”

The brief “I love you” was enough to make Korra blush, but she brushed it off with a quick shake of her head and said, “Then explain why you bought me a fifteen-hundred-yuan textbook.”

“Aha! Well, I know how much you need it for the exam you have _in two weeks_ , and I thought it would be a shame for you to do poorly just because you lacked the finances to purchase one of these _criminally_ overpriced textbooks.” As she always did when she made a pun of the “criminal” variety, Asami laughed, and Korra had to laugh along with her.

Of all the people in the world, why did she have to crush on such a _nerd_.

“Okay,” said Korra, shaking her head with fondness, “But aside from doing this for me out of the goodness of your heart and your concern for my grades, _what_ do you want?”

“It’s not so much about what _I_ want as it is about what _you_ need.” Asami tweaked Korra’s nose before settling back down on the couch, the picture of graceful manners. Korra plopped down next to her, propping one socked foot up on the coffee table as Asami switched the television on. The textbook rested against her stomach; she’d put it away eventually, but for now it’s weight was comforting, for some reason. “I know how much you need money right now, Korra, and I want to help you. I just need you to agree to do something for me in return.”

“What’s the catch?” Korra asked, eyeing her roommate carefully.

She trusted Asami Sato, trusted her more than people said she should—especially considering what Asami’s father did for a living—but that didn’t mean that Korra was just blindly going to accept the other girl’s help just like that. After all, Korra’s family wasn’t exactly _clean_ either, per se, but what her uncle did in the North Pole—and what her own father did in the South Pole—was nothing compared to what Asami’s father did right here in Republic City.

If there were rungs within the criminal hierarchy—which, come to think of it, there _were_ —then Asami was a princess, and Korra was…maybe a minor noble’s daughter, if she was lucky. While her own family basically controlled the criminal underworld of the Poles, The Sato Group, Asami’s clan, ran most of what constituted gangland within the United Republic. Throughout _all_ of Republic City, the word of a Sato was the word of the law.

It was a good thing that Korra’s father and uncle worked in tandem with Hiroshi Sato—Asami’s father—else Korra wouldn’t have ever even dreamed of coming to study in Republic City. While it was true that the Sato Group was a respectable gang—more of a Robin Hood-type organization than anything else, though they did take some profits from their various _activities_ —they were still a gang. They didn’t take too kindly to non-allied parties waltzing about, a sentiment which extended to the children of these parties and their heads.

 

It was all rather complicated, and part of the reason why her friendship with Asami had always struck her as a bit strange and, frankly, more dangerous than she would have liked.

 

Korra might have trusted Asami, but trusting a gangland princess when one was, at _best_ , part of the gangland upper-middle-class was…risky business. Much as Korra needed the money for tuition, and books, on top of everything else, well…risky business could only get so risky before the smarter thing to do was to back out. And Korra’s father and uncle had always taught her that the way to survive, especially when one was in a rather precarious position within the underworld, like her, was to do the smarter thing, always.

Still, she’d give her roommate—and crush—the benefit of the doubt; Asami had never put her in harm’s way before.

“It’s not gang business, is it?” Korra asked. She knew that Asami probably wouldn’t ever ask her to do anything related to the Sato Group’s movements, but it didn’t hurt to get the slight possibility off the table before they got too deep into terms and such. “Because I mean, I’m all for _you_ being involved in what your clan does, but I don’t—

“Korra, relax,” Asami said, patting her arm, and Korra obeyed. “It’s not gang business…not really, anyway.”

“What exactly _is_ “not-really-gang-business”?”

“It’s true that there will be something of an…underworld aspect to what I need from you, but it won’t be anything _dangerous_.” Asami stuck her tongue out playfully before tweaking Korra’s nose again. As if sensing that there was affection afoot, Naga

“Something _not_ dangerous that involves elements of gangland? Uh huh. Sure…” Korra patted her emotionally-needy dog for a few minutes, trying to think of every angle in this situation. She didn’t know what Asami needed her to do, but she also really needed the money. It would help her a lot. And she wouldn’t need to ask her parents for anything. “How do you intend to help me, financially speaking?” If she had a number, it might be easier to ascertain whether taking any risks was worth it.

“Asking for the reward before the condition?”

“It’ll help me in the decision-making process.”

Asami watched her for a moment before breaking out into a broad grin. “See, I knew I was right about you when we met. You’re smart.” Increasing the volume on the television, Asami leaned in, gesturing for Korra to do the same. “You know the party my father throws every year?”

“Yeah,” Korra said; she’d _been_ to the last two, after all. And “party” didn’t seem to be the right word, in her opinion. It was more of a gala for the criminally-connected of the world.

“This year one of my father’s lieutenants is bringing his son. The lieutenant asked my father if his son could be my date, which would be okay except that this guy is…not pleasant. In any sense of the word. So, to get out of it...”

Korra laughed, the sound a bit louder than she had intended, if Asami’s wide eyes were any indication. Holding a hand up in apology, she snickered a bit more into her arm before saying, “You said you have a date even if you don’t have a date, is that it?”

“You know me so well, roomie.”  Korra laughed at that, and the dramatic way in which Asami clutched a hand to her chest, supposedly overrun with feeling. Her best friend, the girl she liked, who appeared to the rest of the world to be a calm, collected gangland princess, was honestly one of the biggest dweebs Korra had ever known.

Part of why they got along so well, she supposed.

“Did you lift that idea from a rom-com?”

“I mean…it _worked,_ didn’t it?” Asami tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“If by “worked” you mean that you need to find a date to take to the gala in the next four days.” Asami stared at her—more intently than Korra thought the situation warranted—and Korra scratched the back of her neck, suddenly uncomfortable with how warm it was in their apartment. “Why don’t you ask Mako?”

Asami shook her head. “Can’t. You know how my father feels about the triads.”

Everybody knew how much Hiroshi Sato hated the triads; all three of them. Given that his wife had been killed by a member of the Agni Kais, nobody could find it in their hearts to blame him. Nobody could find it in their hearts—or wherever it was that they stored their courage—to tell him that his hatred of all three of the triads was, as Shady Shin and a few of the others put it, “Bad for business”.

Even if it only one triad had been involved, nobody wanted to make a case for themselves.

Not against Hiroshi Sato.

“True,” said Korra after a moment of quiet deliberation. She sifted through people she and Asami knew in her head, discarding Bolin because he too, was an ex-member of a triad, as well as Jinora, who—while belonging to a clan well-respected by the Sato Group—was far oo young. “Well, what about Kuvira?”

Asami shook her head once more. “I thought about her, but no. Can’t. Su Beifong is sending Kuvira and Opal as her representatives, and she’s not…on the best terms with Dad right now. Don’t want to rattle his cage too hard, right?” After a second she laughed, and then added, “And besides, Kuvira and I tried that before, for real, remember? It didn’t turn out that great for either of us.”

Korra nodded; she remembered those days very, _very_ well.

“Oh, true…Um. In that case, I could ask one of my cousins? I know they’re not the most…normal…but they…” If Asami’s stare could have killed her, Korra would surely have been struck dead right then and there. “Okay, that’s a no.”

“Yeah, that’s a hard no. I mean, I know they’re your family and all, Korra, but seriously, those two weird me out.”

“So, what do you want me to do? Go out into the street to find you a date? Because we’re burning through my list of reasonably attractive and age-appropriate people who also are conveniently involved in gangland politics in some way, shape, or form. I mean, sure I could pound the pavement a bit, possibly come up with a few more, but…yeah.”

“Korra,” Asami said, and Korra felt a tiny thrum of…something…at the way that her best friend was looking at her. “I don’t need you to _find_ me a date.”

“You… _oh_. You need me to _be_ your date, then,” Korra said, brain finally catching up with her mouth. “Wait. What? _You_ need _me_ to be your date?”

Asami nodded, looking at Korra with something akin to teasing fondness. Honestly, Korra thought that she should have seen that one coming. Sure, she’d joked with Asami about it earlier, but the more she found out about this entire situation, the more it felt like something out of a cheesy rom-com; which, if she was being honest, was essentially what her life had become.

 

Well…minus all the meetings in dark rooms and the casual conversations about extortion and collecting on debts that seemed to be part and parcel with calling home these days.

Asami clapped in the half-mocking way that only a best friend could. “We have a winner!”

“Okay, but why me? And why are you going to _pay_ me for this if you know that I would go with you as a favour anyway?”

“Because I would pay your tuition _as a favour_ anyway, so…this way you can feel like you earned it? And also, my father doesn’t like very many people all too much, but for some reason he seems to be keen on you and I being friends, so…him thinking we’re more than that should be even better, right?”

                                  

“So, let me get this straight, you _also_ want your dad to think we’re into each other like…romantically? Am I right? Is that right?”

“Oh, come on, Korra, I know you heard me the first time.”

“Yeah, but…Asami, your father would kill me.”

“No, he wouldn’t. He’s not trying to start a war with the North and South poles…and besides, he likes you!”

Hm.

Well, that was certainly one way of looking at things.

And honestly _not_ as reassuring as Asami probably meant it to be.

Korra leaned back against the couch, staring at her best friend as she tried, once again, to come at Asami’s request from all angles. Pros and cons, Korra, she reminded herself, pros and cons and potential hidden downsides. Potential threats.

On the one hand, she didn’t really like the idea of potentially inciting the rage of one of Hiroshi Sato’s lieutenant’s sons…or possibly more of them, since Asami was the jewel in the Sato Group’s crown and attracted more than her fair share of admirers. After all—and as Korra’s father and uncle _loved_ to remind her—while her own family wasn’t doing too badly in terms of the criminal hierarchy, they also weren’t at par with a lieutenant in the Sato Group. The North and South Poles had been easy to control, after all, and as her father and uncle were already the chieftains of their respective tribes, controlling the underworld had been little more than a matter of extending their official powers downwards. Korra didn’t want to appear as if she was overreaching.

On the other hand, she and Asami were such good friends that she was certain that this charade—were she to go through with it—wouldn’t put any strain on their relationship. That it would, in fact, be just another thing for them to laugh about further down the road. And it probably wouldn’t even be too difficult. They’d been each other’s dates to events before. And she really did need the money…

Not to mention that the Sato Group _was_ known for fully funding the educations of children in the gangs—and as the daughter and niece of two partners to the Sato Group, nobody would question her receiving financial backing from Hiroshi. And even if it didn’t come from Hiroshi, if it came from Asami herself, well…Korra was doing her friend a favour, sure, but considering the risks, and the fact that Korra was essentially going to be dating Asami in the eyes of Hiroshi and the others, surely, one could _almost_ say that she was providing her friend with a service. Like…an escort of sorts, only with no sexual motivations behind the date.

 

And Asami _was_ Korra’s best friend, and extremely attractive besides, and even if Korra had a crush on her that she never wanted Asami to know about, those same secret feelings would be an asset in this little charade…

For the first time in her life, Korra decided on her course of action before making absolutely certain that it was, in fact, the smarter thing to do. “So you need me to pretend that we’re dating, or something?”

Wow. This honestly _was_ the plot for a rom-com. The kind that made a lot of money at the box office but got panned by every critic.

“Or something at least, yeah,” Asami said, rolling her eyes at Korra’s need for multiple confirmations. “If you’re not comfortable with the whole “dating” thing, maybe we could just pretend that we’re _headed_ in that direction? Because I’m sure that Dad would rather I ended up with you instead of with somebody directly under his control. You know how he is.”

Korra nodded. The man was _paranoid_. Everything he had, he wanted to give to Asami, and so he screened all his daughter’s potential suitors vigorously before so much as allowing them to see her. With her own—though much smaller—empire to inherit one day, Korra made a good candidate, speaking strictly in terms of inheritance. Maybe.

Regardless, Korra remembered having to go through a similar screening process before Hiroshi allowed her and Asami to rent an apartment together, so she figured that, at the very least, the man didn’t _disapprove_ of her. Hm. The offer was starting to look more appealing than it originally had.

“And if I do this, you pay for _everything_?”

“Everything except for your share of the apartment and your other personal expenses, yeah,” Asami said, “Only because that would be tougher to explain dressed up as a scholarship.”

“Spirits! Asami, books alone…”

“Aren’t a problem,” Asami said, tapping a fingernail against the hard cover of Korra’s textbook. “Like, not to rub my father’s money in your face, but seriously. And it’s no big deal. The Sato Group provides the money for dozens of scholarships every year, so why not to you? You shouldn’t have to be struggling through school because of the stupid costs…and honestly, Dad won’t mind. He still gives Mako and Bolin scholarships, and he _hates_ them on principle.”

That…was true.

“But…won’t it be hard for you?”

“What’s there _not_ like about you Korra? It’ll be easy,” Asami said, shooting Korra a charming wink. “Just try not to fall in love with me, okay, roomie?”

A little late for that. “Okay.” Korra smiled, drumming her fingertips against the textbook in her lap. “Well then, Asami, you’ve got a deal. Count me in.”

 

How difficult could it be, pretending to have feelings for Asami for one night?

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

The answer to that question, as it would appear, was “not difficult at all”, to the point where Korra…was pretty sure that her crush was showing. At least, it certainly felt that way, and Korra had decided just to accept the slow, self-outing of her feelings in true romantic comedy fashion—hopefully if Asami picked up on it, which she probably would, they’d be able to skip past the convoluted conflict part somewhere down the road, because Korra…really didn’t want to have to deal with that.

Shaking the thoughts out of her head as she guided Asami around, she noted that, at the very least, everybody _else_ seemed to have no trouble buying into the idea that Korra was here not just as Asami’s date, but as Asami’s _date._

See, people thought that because Korra was a jock, she wasn’t smart, and maybe in some ways she wasn’t the _smartest_. Certainly not top-of-the-class-smart, like Asami, but she was perceptive as hell when she felt like it; and here, in this fancy banquet hall, surrounded by assorted members of gangland, she sure as hell felt like being as perceptive as she possibly could be. What Korra saw as she and Asami made their way around the room were the looks of surprise on the faces of some of the heads of the minor—but rising—criminal factions underneath the Sato Group’s banner, and the poorly-concealed jealousy in the eyes of many a young man and woman.

 

She would have been lying to say that she didn’t enjoy those looks.

 

And she would also have been lying to say that she hadn’t dreamed about this a couple times; going to an underworld function with Asami on her arm in a more-than-platonic kind of way. Minus the pretending-in-exchange-for-money part, of course. _That_ had been a completely unexpected part of all this, though one that Korra was determined to work hard to earn.

 

Hiroshi came up to greet them, smiling so widely that Korra would have sworn up and down that such a smile was fake if she couldn’t remember seeing it aimed at Asami on many an occasion. There was something in his eyes, too, a pleased, knowing kind of look that Korra couldn’t say he’d ever given her before. “Ah, Korra, I should have known! Of course, it _would_ be you who Asami’s been mooning after these past few weeks! I must say, I’m very pleased. I’ve always liked you much more than Lee’s son.”

“Dad!” said Asami, and Korra noted a dusting of pink across her friend’s cheeks. It suited her. “I haven’t been _mooning_ …”

“I must admit, sir,” said Korra, jumping in to spare her friend the embarrassment that was radiating off her even more than the air of elegance she always carried at events like this, “I’m flattered that you would think so highly of me. Especially considering my family’s…status.” She didn’t have a hard time accepting that they were small time compared to the gangs scattered throughout the rest of the world. It was easy enough to remind herself of their place, and it wasn’t an embarrassment to Korra so much as an inevitability.

After all, the North and South Poles only had access to so much—by way of people, money, resources, etc—compared to the mainland gangs.

Hiroshi laughed deeply, from his gut, and Korra smiled at the man’s joviality. “Korra, Korra, status matters little to me compared to hard work and brains! And I must admit,” and this he said with a large, conspiratorial wink, “I’ve always preferred your family to the mutts constantly sitting at the foot of my table, waiting for scraps. Hard workers, your father and uncle. Hard workers!” Korra laughed along, surprised but pleased at the jibe towards the other guests. Hiroshi had been rather hostile with her family during the first few years after her father and uncle joined the underworld, but looking at the way he treated them now—and her, most of all—one would never have guessed.

“Dad,” said Asami, drawing the sound of the word out until it was _almost_ undignified, “Aren’t you supposed to be mingling with your guests?” Her arm tightened around Korra’s, and Korra laughed a bit, hoping that the warmth on her cheeks wasn’t accompanied by a deep red blush. With her luck it probably was.

Hiroshi’s gaze switched between the two of them for a while before he laughed again and said, “Alright, alright. You girls go and have fun!”

“What was that about?” Korra asked as Hiroshi walked away. Asami coughed, clearing her throat before settling her eyes on Korra’s. Korra was glad that it was so warm, else she wouldn’t have been able to explain the blush that had _definitely_ made it onto her face by this point.

“Oh, you know, just my dad being…himself. It’s nothing.”

Korra smiled, feeling the tension in Asami’s arm as it clenched a bit more tightly around hers. “Hey, it’s okay, relax. He’s not going to figure anything out.”

Asami smiled back. “Figure wh—oh, right. Yeah, no. Uh…shall we? I think I see your mom and dad over there.”

Korra nodded, then blanched a bit. She’d forgotten that her parents would be here. Still, she’d made a deal with Asami, and it wasn’t as if her parents didn’t _already_ think—or at least wish—that she and Asami were dating, so… “Let’s go say hi.”

For some reason Asami’s smile seemed to brighten, and she squeezed Korra’s arm a bit before leading them over to where Korra’s parents stood. As they neared, Korra noticed her father’s slightly-bent back straighten out, saw him work to vanish the air of melancholy from around his eyes. Her mother didn’t have to do so much to appear happy to see her, and for that, at least, Korra was thankful.

 

If her mother could enjoy herself tonight, it meant that whatever was wrong with her father, he would be able to overcome it given time and Master Katara’s medications.

 

“Hey Mom, hey Dad,” she said, releasing Asami’s arm so that she could give her parents proper hugs. She wasn’t surprised when they went for Asami almost immediately after letting go of her. They loved Asami—and for reasons _completely_ unrelated to the other girl’s father and his place in their world.

“Tonraq, Senna, how have you both been?” Asami asked, the image of politeness as she pulled out of the hugs. “Well, I hope?” Korra didn’t think anything of it when Asami latched on to her arm again—and more tightly than she had in front of her father. She was too busy watching her father, trying to judge how tired he was, if he’d been sleeping enough; that sort of thing.

Tonraq shrugged, his formal clothes straining against the muscles of his chest and arms. “I’ve seen better days, Asami, but I’m on the mend, or at least that’s what Master Katara says.”

“Glad to hear it,” Asami said, “And you, Senna?”

“Taking care of this big baby makes me feel young,” said Senna. “He’s always stubbornly insisting he’s fine, when really he should just be in bed,” she teased, jabbing a finger lightly into her husband’s side. Korra laughed at her mother’s antics, and would have said something funny in return if it weren’t for Asami.

“Sounds a lot like this one,” said the older girl, tweaking Korra’s nose in what she called her “affectionate” way. “Always trying to be on the move, even when she shouldn’t be.”

An exchange passed between her mother and Asami, an exchange that Korra didn’t really understand. From what she could see, physically, it consisted of solely an eyebrow raise and a questioning half-grin from her mother, and a slightly self-conscious (and totally cute) half-shrug-and-grin combination from Asami, but by the end of it, Asami was pink in the cheeks, and her mother was beaming, and Korra and her father were…confused. “Uh…I…think I see Uncle Unalaq. I should probably go say hi, right?”

“Yes, dear, that would be the polite thing to do,” said her mother, still smiling. “We’ll be able to catch up later, darling. Hiroshi has invited us to spend the duration of our stay under his roof, the generous man. And I’m sure,” said Korra’s mother, eyes flicking between Korra and Asami and their tightly-linked arms, “that there is _much_ for us to talk about.”

“Sure, Mom,” Korra said, not quite catching on to what her mother was trying to tell her. Assuming her mother was, in fact, trying to tell her something, and _not_ just developing a strange nervous twitch.

It could have been either, honestly.

 

 

 

Hours passed as Korra and Asami weaved in and out of the crowds, occasionally mingling when they bumped into familiar faces. It was much like any of the other events that they’d been to as each other’s dates, with the most glaring difference being how closely Asami clung to her the entire time. Not that Korra minded in the least. It was just…different.

As the night dragged on, Korra noticed something…a little strange.

Every time Hiroshi turned and found them at the other end of his gaze, he gave her—or perhaps Asami—a big wave and a conspiratorial wink. And every time it happened Asami would blush and shake her head firmly. And Hiroshi would just smile.

It made Korra feel…weird.

After about five or six instances of this strange thing happening, Korra’s curiosity had reached it’s peak. “Um, Asami? Can I talk to you?”

“Sure,” Asami said, allowing herself to be pulled off to the side, behind a pillar. Couples walked past them, smiling and laughing, and Korra almost heaved a sigh. This was beginning to feel distinctly like a bad movie again. “What’s wrong?”

“Why does your dad keep on looking at us?”

Asami watched her face for a moment. “Oh? Has he been?”

“ _Asami_.”

The older girl laughed, patting Korra’s cheek with her hand. “Don’t worry about it, Korra. He’s just teasing me.”

“Oh, okay,” Korra said, pulling Asami back towards the party before the words made sense. “Wait…teasing you about what?”

And why did she get the feeling that she was about to get into more trouble than her tuition and books were worth?

Asami grinned, taking the lead as she and Korra walked out from behind the pillar. “Nothing you need to worry about!”

Once again Korra could just make out the big wave and conspiratorial wink.

“Okay but you’re _sure_ he doesn’t hate me?”

“Yes, Korra. I’m sure. He _definitely_ doesn’t hate you.”

 

 

 

Much like in a romantic comedy, Korra never _would_ figure out what that whole wave-and-wink thing was about, in the end chalking it up to some strange gangster language that she didn’t know, but as she danced with Asami—who was almost _definitely_ blushing because of how close they were, she hoped—she found that that didn’t matter.


End file.
